Strike in Israel

Wedneasday morning. Another adventure.

Figuring out what to do was interesting. There was the TV news, which I could listen to and read the headlines on the screen. There was the Jerusalem Post in English - at the breakfast table.

Hmmm. What to do? How much to worry??

The Wednesday strike (starting at 6 AM) of public sector workers affected the ports, the post office, the trains (but not the buses), the hospitals (limited service) and a little more. The strike at the airport (eeeeeek!!!) was postponed for a day - hanging as a threat over the negotiations.

Well, there was no message from school that school was not being held (though the Jerusalem Post said that universities were closed). Classes were held as usual.

I made sure that I extended my stay in case there ended up being a strike of several days at the airport and things got ugly trying to get out of the country early on the 31st.

The news in the evening indicated that negotiations were underway, but nothing had been decided. This was still the case when I last saw the news at 11 PM.

Ah - blessed relief - in the morning, the news said that an agreement had been reached and the strike at the airport wasn't going to happen and all the other places on strike on Wednesday would be open as normal.

Now, this sounds easy - except, the TV news was all in Hebrew (duh!!!). My vocabulary sent me to the dictionary - and then the words left the screen - I had to wait for the next time the subject was brought up to get a little more. It was certainly more work that just a quick listen to NPR etc. I had a taste of what life must be like for those in the States who don't undertand English and don't have TV channels in their native language.

I did figure it out though and am glad for everyone - and especially for me - that the strike was short-lived - - which is, I understand it, pretty standard (now!!) for strikes in Israel. But, when one doesn't know, one doesn't know!! And, it wasn't big enough news to make the CNN World News program, so I had not English source for the details other than the daily paper.

Ah - the adventure continues!!

Rabbi Heath